A Week: May 22nd

I’m going to do something a bit different in this post and describe all the music-related activities I got up to last week.

Starting on Tuesday, I took a friend along to Junior’s intimate acoustic show, celebrating the launch of their new single, Veronica, (which you can check out below) and we had a great time. They were playing in the Head Above The Waves store in the Castle Emporium, Womanby Street which was awesome as the ‘sweet garms’ made for a cool backdrop. Junior stripped back their epic live show and it worked so well acoustically. Hearing ‘A House That’s Not Quite Home’ in this way was the highlight for me as that’s been one of my favourite songs since they released ‘Juniorland’. Complete with a kick-ass Avril Lavigne cover, Junior have so much fun playing music that it’s impossible not to enjoy it from the audience. They invited everyone over to Weatherspoons afterwards which was also fun, despite the questionable amount of gin consumed.
(Featured photo taken from Junior’s Facebook page, lookin’ fine lads)

The next day, having expected to have a double shift, I was buzzing to get out at 4pm instead so after some time hanging out with my mates in the beautiful weather I ran down to Gwdihw on my lonesome to catch Home Run play an acoustic set supporting the fantastic Daniel Eagle. Starting with Home Run, make sure you don’t sleep on those guys! They are a new addition to the Cardiff City Pop Punk scene and their show was just brilliant. They even invited in the onlooking ‘Green Man’ from outside, familiar to many as a popular busker in the city-centre who went on to add extra percussion for the remainder of the set which was hilarious. After a great collection of original songs and another refrain of ‘Elevated’ by State Champs there was an awesome vibe left in the room ready for the headliner. Daniel Eagle is a blues singer from Southampton and took me by surprise with how great he was. His set included a kids song about a Screamapillar walking down the road (DOWN THE ROAD) and a beautiful closer which he dedicated to the victims of the horrific events of the Manchester bombing just a few days previously, which was a nice touch. He also covered the theme song for Gavin & Stacey which is always going to score some brownie points from a Welsh audience!

After a few more gruelling days in work, more gin in the sun, many spins of Tigers Jaw’s new album (see what I did there?) and the emotional season finale of The Flash it was time for Sticks & Stones to get back on the stage. We were booked last minute to play Aberdare Rocks in the newly refurbished Jac’s Bar which is awesome inside. There is some cool art up on the walls, funky furniture and a crisp sound system which made every band sound great. We had learned a new song ready for this show and it went down well. ‘Jobber’ compares myself to a wrestler who always loses, has a bouncy opening and goes into three-time and was really fun to play live for the first time. Overall we had a great time, thank you to everyone who played/organised the show and to the staff on sound and the bar, we hope to come back to Jac’s soon.

(Photo courtesy of Sarah from Rocking Up The Valleys, thanks!)

It was great fun this week to enjoy the Cardiff Pop Punk scene, from local legends Junior to Home Run, a band I’m really excited for. I can’t wait to get a show sorted with those lads and I’m sure it won’t be long. As for Sticks & Stones, we have upcoming shows in Hobos, Bridgend (11th June supporting More Than Machines) and Gwdihw, Cardiff (13th June, headline). Make sure you get down to a Gwdihw as the #CardiffHugSquad will be in full flow! As I said to begin with, I thought I’d try something a bit different with the blog this week. Let us know what you think in the comments, we’d love to hear from you! Remember you can stay up to date with all our news on our Facebook and Twitter accounts which are linked at the top of the page.